CHRIST POURED HIMSELF OUT - Paul is not saying that Christ emptied something from Himself or poured something out of Himself, as if in so doing he became less fully God than He was before (which, as we have seen, is impossible) - rather, He emptied Himself; He poured out Himself - that is, all of who Christ is as eternal God, all that He is as the One who is in the form of God and is equal with God, is poured out - Christ, then, as God remains fully God - He loses nothing of His divine nature, and no divine qualities are removed from Him as He pours Himself out - Christ being fully God, possessing the very nature of God and being fully equal to God in every respect, did not thereby insist on holding onto all the privileges and benefits of his position of equality with God (the Father) and thereby refuse to accept coming as a man. He did not clutch or grasp his place of equality with the Father and all that this brought to him in such a way that he would refuse the condescension and humiliation of the servant role he was being called to accept. … Christ’s not “grasping” equality with God cannot rightly be taken to mean that Christ gave up being God or became in any way less than fully God when he took on also a fully human nature. No, rather, he did not grasp or clutch onto the privileged position, rights, and prerogatives that his full equality with God, his Father, afforded him, in order to fulfill his calling to become fully a man who would be, amazingly, servant of all.

..............................................................................................................................................................

Christ Poured Himself Out

Bruce Ware on Christ Emptying Himself

.

Paul is not saying that Christ emptied something from Himself or poured something out of Himself, as if in so doing he became less fully God than He was before (which, as we have seen, is impossible) - rather, He emptied Himself; He poured out Himself - that is, all of who Christ is as eternal God, all that He is as the One who is in the form of God and is equal with God, is poured out - Christ, then, as God remains fully God - He loses nothing of His divine nature, and no divine qualities are removed from Him as He pours Himself out

BY RANDY ALCORN 

Philippians 2:5-8 says:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

What does Scripture mean by saying that Christ “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”?

And what does it mean for Christ to empty Himself?

My friend Bruce Ware is a professor of Christian Theology at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Below is an excerpt from Bruce’s excellent book The Man Christ Jesus where he discusses this passage:

Christ being fully God, possessing the very nature of God and being fully equal to God in every respect, did not thereby insist on holding onto all the privileges and benefits of his position of equality with God (the Father) and thereby refuse to accept coming as a man.

He did not clutch or grasp his place of equality with the Father and all that this brought to him in such a way that he would refuse the condescension and humiliation of the servant role he was being called to accept.

… Christ’s not “grasping” equality with God cannot rightly be taken to mean that Christ gave up being God or became in any way less than fully God when he took on also a fully human nature.

No, rather, he did not grasp or clutch onto the privileged position, rights, and prerogatives that his full equality with God, his Father, afforded him, in order to fulfill his calling to become fully a man who would be, amazingly, servant of all.

. . . Paul is not saying that Christ emptied something from himself or poured something out of himself, as if in so doing he became less fully God than he was before (which, as we have seen, is impossible).

Rather, he emptied himself; he poured out himself.

That is, all of who Christ is as eternal God, all that he is as the one who is in the form of God and is equal with God, is poured out.

Christ, then, as God remains fully God. He loses nothing of his divine nature, and no divine qualities are removed from him as he pours himself out.

May we follow Christ’s model of humility and “have this same mind among yourselves.”

Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of fifty-some books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. 

https://www.epm.org/blog/2016/Apr/13/christ-emptying-himself

You might also like:

The Servant King

(From Heaven You Came)

Words and Music by Graham Kendrick

CLICK HERE . . . to view complete playlist . . . 

https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-servant-king-from-heaven-you-came.html

THE GREATER WORKS - If the Most High God touches you, you will be beside yourself. As long as you hold your own, the natural and the spiritual will be mixed. Divine wisdom will never make you foolish. Divine wisdom will give you a sound mind. Divine wisdom will give you a touch of divine nature. Divine life is full of divine appointment and equipment, and you cannot be filled with the power of God without a manifestation. Our incapability has to be clothed with His divine ability, and our helplessness has to be filled with His power of helpfulness. He knew He was going away and that if He went away it was expedient, it was necessary, it was important that another came in His place and took up the same thing in them as He had been telling them: “I in you and you in Me.” There was a plan of divine order. So the Holy Ghost was to come.

.............................................................................................................................................

Greater Works

Invited into the Greater Works

Smith Wigglesworth

Here in the fourteenth chapter of John we read the Master’s word, the Master’s desire: “Greater things than these shall he do.”

Why was His prospective so full? Because He had admiration before Him. Jesus had great admiration before Him when He saw the disciples.

He knew He had the material that would bring out that which would prove to the world a real satisfaction — to heaven and to the world.

Those glorified, exercised, wonderfully modified, and then glorified positions of these fishermen were surely ideal places.

What were they? Unlearned, in one place. (Not that I am going to build on an unlearned position.)

Ignorant men in another place (not that I am going to build on that).

But look — they were unlearned, but God taught them. It is far better to have the learning of the Spirit than anything else.

They were ignorant. He enlarged them. They were beside themselves because they had been touched with the divine life.

If the Most High God touches you, you will be beside yourself. As long as you hold your own, the natural and the spiritual will be mixed.

But if ever you jump over the traces by the power of the new creation, you will find He has got hold of you.

Divine wisdom will never make you foolish. Divine wisdom will give you a sound mind.

Divine wisdom will give you a touch of divine nature. Divine life is full of divine appointment and equipment, and you cannot be
filled with the power of God
without a manifestation.

I
 would to God today that we
 understood to be filled with
the Holy Ghost is to be filled with manifestation, the glory of the Lord being in the midst of us, manifesting His divine power.

Jesus knew that these people He had before Him were going to do greater things than He had done.

How could they do it? None of us is able. None of us is capable.

But our incapability has to be clothed with His divine ability, and our helplessness has to be filled with His power of helpfulness. This is why He knew.

He knew He was going away and that if He went away it was expedient, it was necessary, it was important that another came in His place and took up the same thing in them as He had been telling them: “I in you and you in Me.”

There was a plan of divine order. So the Holy Ghost was to come.

Smith Wigglesworth was an extraordinary student in the school of faith. A man wholly yielded to the Spirit, Wigglesworth became a "Pentecostal phenomenon," a vessel of God's supernatural power. This legendary preacher cast out demons, healed the sick, and stirred up passion for God in the hearts of thousands. Rorbert Liardon is pastor in Irvine, California. He has preached in more than 80 nations with a huge ministry in Europe, Asia and Africa. His books were translated into more than 27 languages and they are all around the world.

https://www.destinyimage.com/2018/08/25/smith-wigglesworth-invited-into-the-greater-works/